JENSEN: Barrett-Jackson Wrapped, It's NASCAR Time
Whew, what a week.
I flew to Phoenix last Monday morning and spent the next five days immersed in the 37th Annual Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event in Scottsdale, one of the world’s great automotive circuses and a place where you buy anything and everything from million-dollar cars at auction to corporate jets and life-size brass sculptures of buffalos in the huge vendor area.
As always, Barrett-Jackson is fascinating on any number of fronts, from watching the rich and famous wandering around staring at cars to trying to figure what each car will cost before it comes across the block. You never know who will show up, either, another element that keeps the show interesting. Muhammad Ali made a surprise appearance at the show, and there was a host of famous regulars, including Carroll Shelby, actor John Schneider, baseball star Randy Johnson and two guys who were sitting in the hotel bar when I got off work Friday night, “Mr. October” himself, Reggie Jackson, and Michael Anthony, the former Van Halen bass player. Patrick Dempsey, the actor, was there, too, as was former pro wrestler Bill Goldberg, making for a crowd that was nothing if not eclectic.
NASCAR was also well represented. I saw Robert Yates hanging out back behind the auction tent and ran into Ray Evernham, who bought a beautiful red-and-white 1955 Chevy Bel Air resto-mod and Tony Stewart, who snagged a gleaming black custom ’67 GTO. More importantly, Tony Stewart auctioned off one his Joe Gibbs Racing team’s No. 20 Chevrolet Sprint Cup cars for $320,000, with all proceeds going to the Darrell Gwynn Foundation. Richard Childress auctioned off a special RCR Series 3 1969 Camaro, a car he said commemorated his relationship with the late Dale Earnhardt. It sold for $575,000.
Although the final numbers were not in as of the time I’m writing this column, it was pretty obvious that the B-J 2008 sales total would not be another record as has been the case so often in recent years.
While much will be made of that - Has the muscle car boom crested? Is the recession responsible? - it was great news for first-time buyers. There were wonderful cars at Barrett-Jackson that real people could afford and if the lower point of entry brings in another generation of buyers, those same folks will eventually drive the market back up.
Speaking of real people, I had the good fortune to spend Saturday night with an entire family of real people. I got a 6:15 a.m. flight home from Phoenix Saturday morning to attend the annual National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame Banquet, where Tommy Houston was inducted.
Houston was a bare-knuckled racer in what was then known as the NASCAR Busch Series. Tough as nails, Houston was one series’ all-time greats. From 1982 to 1996, when he started 417 consecutive races and set series records from top-five and top-10 finishes.
At the dinner, Houston, his lovely wife, Martha, and sons Scott, Marty and Andy were all there, along with their families. Tommy talked at length about the early days of the Busch Series and the realities of being a working man from North Carolina in a series designed for working men from the south. There were no corporate jets and million-dollar-motorhomes in those days, just a tow rig that carried the boys in the back and a sack of bologna sandwiches that Martha had made for them.
Glenn Jarrett, who has been friends with Houston for more than 35 years, did a great job with the induction speech, which was by turn funny, poignant and emotional. All told, it was one of those nights that left you feeling warm and fuzzy, and happy for a man who got his richly deserved moment in the spotlight.
On Sunday, we had a full day of NMPA activities, including board of directors and general membership meetings, the annual Goody’s rookie lunch with three rookies each from the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Craftsman Truck Series and the concluding awards banquet for writers, photographers and broadcast media. Great stuff, all of it.
Today begins the annual Lowe’s Motor Speedway NASCAR Media Tour, where more than 200 journalists from around the world spend four days in the Charlotte area visiting a host of race shops, along with the NASCAR R&D center in Concord, N.C. Rest assured, there will be plenty of news in the coming week.
And with the start of the NASCAR portion Daytona Speedweeks little more than two weeks away, the 2008 Sprint Cup season is about to start happening in a big way. Stay tuned, folks, the fun is just starting.
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